CIRCUIT SCIENCE

Build a Circuit

A circuit is a path that electricity flows along. It starts at a power source, like a battery,
and flows through a wire to a light bulb or other object and back to other side of the
power source. You can build your own circuit and see how it works with this project!

What You Need:

 Small light bulb (or a flashlight bulb)

 2 batteries (with the correct voltage for your light bulb)
 2 alligator clip wires or aluminum foil*
 Paper clips
 Electrical tape (Scotch®tape also works)
 Bulb holder (optional)
 Battery holders (optional**)

*To use foil instead of wires, cut 2 strips each 6″ long and 3″ wide. Fold each one tightly
along the long edge to make a thin strip.)
**To use paper clips instead of battery holders, tape one end of a paper clip to each end
of your battery using thin strips of tape. Then connect your wires to the paper clips.
Part 1 – Making a Circuit:

1. Connect one end of each wire to the screws on the base of the light bulb holder. (If
you’re using foil, ask an adult to help you unscrew each screw enough to fit a foil
strip under it.)
2. Connect the free end of one wire to the negative (“-“) end of one battery. Does
anything happen?
3. Attach the free end of the other wire to the positive (“+”) end of the battery. Now
what happens?

Part 2 – Adding Power

1. Disconnect the battery from your circuit. Stand one battery so that the “+” end is
pointing up, then set the other battery next to it so that the flat “-” end is pointing
up. Tape around the middle of the batteries to hold them together.
2. Set a paperclip across the batteries so that it connects the “+” end of one to the “-”
end of the other. Tape the paperclip in place with a narrow piece of tape (do not
tape over the metal battery ends).
3. Turn the batteries over and tape one end of a paper clip onto each of the batteries.
Now you can connect one wire to each paper clip. (The bottom of the battery pack
should only have one paper clip – do not connect a wire to it.)
4. Connect the free ends of the wires to the light bulb.
What Happened:

In the first part, you made a simple circuit that used a battery to light up a
light bulb. Batteries supply electricity. When they’re connected properly, they can
“power” things, like a flashlight, an alarm clock, a radio, or a timer. Why didn’t the
light bulb light up when you connected it to one end of the battery with a wire?
Electricity from a battery has to flow out one end (the negative or “-” end) and
back in through the positive (“+”) end in order to work. What you built with the
battery, wire, and bulb in step 3 is called an open circuit. In order for electricity to
start flowing, you need a closed circuit. Electricity is caused by tiny particles with
negative charges, called electrons. When a circuit is complete, or closed, electrons
can flow from one end of a battery all the way around, through the wires, to the
other end of the battery. Along its way, it will carry electrons to electrical objects
that are connected to it – like the light bulb – and make them work!
In the second part, you added another battery. That should have made the light
bulb burn more brightly, because two batteries together can supply more
electricity than just one! The paper clip across the bottom of the battery pack
allowed electricity to flow between the batteries, making the flow of electrons
stronger.
Insulator or Conductor?

Materials that electricity can flow through are call conductors. Materials that stop
electricity from flowing are called insulators. You can find out which things around your
house are conductors and which are insulators using the circuit you made in the last
project to test them!

What You Need:

 Circuit with light bulb & 2 batteries

 Extra alligator clip wire (or aluminum foil wire*)
 Objects to test (made of metal, glass, paper, wood, and plastic)
 Worksheet (optional)

What You Do:

1. Disconnect one of the wires from the battery pack. Connect one end of the new
wire to the battery. You should have two wires with free ends (between the light
bulb and the battery pack).
2. You have made an open circuit and the bulb should not light up. Next you will test
objects to see if they are conductors or insulators. If the object is a conductor, the
light bulb will light up. It is is an insulator, it will not light. For each object, guess
whether you think each object will complete the circuit and light up the light bulb
or not.
3. Connect the ends of the free wires to an object and see what happens. Some
objects you could test are a paper clip, a pair of scissors (try the blades and the
handles separately), a glass, a plastic dish, a wooden block, your favorite toy, or
anything else you can think of.
What Happened:

Before you test each object, guess whether it will make the light bulb light up or not. If it
does, the object you’re touching the wires to is a conductor. The light bulb lights up
because the conductor completes, or closes, the circuit and electricity can flow from the
battery to the light bulb and back to the battery! If it doesn’t light up, the object is an
insulator and it stops the flow of electricity, just like an open circuit does.

When you set up the circuit in step 1, it was an open circuit. Electrons could not flow all
the way around because two of the wires were not touching. The electrons were
interrupted. When you placed an object made of metal between the two wires, the metal
closed or completed the circuit – the electrons could flow across the metal object to get
from one wire to the next! Objects that completed the circuit made the light bulb light up.
Those objects are conductors. They conduct electricity. Most other materials, like plastic,
wood, and glass are insulators. An insulator in an open circuit does not complete the
circuit, because electrons cannot flow through it! The light bulb did not light up when you
put an insulator in between the wires.

If you’re using wires or alligator clips, take a good look at them. Inside they are made of
metal, but they have plastic around the outside. Metal is a good conductor. Plastic is a
good insulator. The plastic wrapped around the wire helps keep electrons flowing along
the metal wire by blocking them from transferring to other object outside of the wires.
 CONCLUSION

What Is Electricity?

Everything around you is made up of tiny particles called atoms. Atoms have even smaller
particles inside them called electrons. Electrons always have a negative charge. When
electrons move, they produce electricity! Electricity is the movement or flow of electrons
from one atom to another. Don’t worry if this seems complicated. It is! Electrons are
called subatomic particles, which means that what they are doing is happening inside
atoms, so this is pretty complicated science.

Life Without Electricity

Has the electricity ever gone out where you live? Sometimes strong wind and storms can
knock down power lines (tall poles holding thick wires that electricity flows through),
breaking the flow of electricity. When that happens, the electrons stop flowing and can’t
make it to wherever they were heading. When no electricity is flowing into your house,
none of the lights or outlets will work! If it’s dark outside, it will be dark inside, too.
Computers, telephones, microwaves, radios, and other things that have to be plugged in
to work will stop working. If you’ve lost power before, can you describe what it was like?
Were you doing anything that got interrupted? Did you have to use candles to see? If you
have never experienced a power outage before, try to think about all the things you do
each day that require electricity. How would your day change if you didn’t have any
electricity? Are there things you you could use that are powered by batteries instead?